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We're seeing cuts: Cornwall and District Labour Council

The labour council has been checking in with workers at minimum wage employers, including fast-food franchises, to see what measures local owners are taking in response to the new minimum wage. Photo taken on Monday January 15, 2018 in Cornwall, Ont.

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With outrage and even boycotts being organized against businesses elsewhere in Ontario that cut back on their employees’ hours or benefits in response to the new $14 minimum wage, the Cornwall and District Labour Council is keeping a close eye on what local business owners are doing.

Ever since stories began coming out about large corporate fast-food franchises – most prominently some Tim Hortons outlets – clawing back paid breaks and other benefits to save money, the labour council has been quietly going around Cornwall asking employees if their own bosses have put in place similar policies. It has also joined forces with the Ottawa and District Labour Council, which has set a telephone hotline to allow employees to complain anonymously.

“We’ve been talking to people in stores and restaurants … it’s been a bit of an underground kind of method,” said the labour council’s Louise Lanctot.

The Minimum Wage Bully Hotline, as the project has been named, borrows the “bullying” criticism Premier Kathleen Wynne aimed at the Tim Hortons’ franchisee in Cobourg that cut paid breaks and benefits at its locations. Lanctot said the hotline gives people a chance to stand up for themselves despite the balance of power favouring their employer – a dynamic that is even more pronounced for people who recently immigrated to Canada.

“What we would hope is that people call the hotline and we can say ‘no, that is illegal. They can’t do that. No, you can’t sign away your rights,’” she said. “We can refer them to the appropriate people, and if we have a group who wants to unionize, we can tell them how to do that.”

According to the Lanctot, the labour council has been told by people working in minimum wage jobs around Cornwall that their employers have been making cuts similar to those that are being made elsewhere. Although it is not in a position to publicly single out businesses — yet — the labour council has been told at least one restaurant has doubled the amount of money the owner keeps from servers’ tips (an already illegal practice) from one per cent to two per cent.

“We’ve heard of hours being slashed. We’ve heard – and this is illegal as well – of people being forced to work for 45 minutes and then taking a 15-minute break. When people are called into work, the minimum shift is three hours, not 45 minutes,” said the labour council president. “There’s a whole variety of things we’ve heard about.”

So far, all the labour council has is hearsay from workers in the community, but if more evidence emerges against particular businesses that it may be violating labour law, Lanctot said the council is prepared to file complaints with the Ministry of Labour.

Although Wynne slammed the Tim Hortons heirs as “bullies,” many small business owners feel they are the ones being victimized by being forced to drastically increase their payroll expenses overnight. Steps such as reducing hours and benefits, it has been argued, are the only way for these companies to stay afloat financially without cutting jobs or increasing prices – the latter of which may not be practical because of stiff competition.

Lanctot acknowledges that some small businesses are having trouble adjusting to the new minimum wage, and while she is sympathetic towards independently-owned businesses that may be struggling, she is less so for franchises of multi-billion-dollar corporations such as Tim Hortons.

Franchise owners in Cornwall should be looking to head office for some relief, she suggested, instead of trying to recover the extra money from their workers.

“Head office is squeezing the franchisees, the franchisees squeeze the workers, and it’s only the workers who ever seem to feel it.”